Who Are The Five Nominees For The BBC's Women's Footballer Of The Year Award?

The BBC have revealed that voting is now open for their Women’s Footballer of the Year award, with Sam Kerr, Beth Mead, Alexandra Popp, Alexia Putellas and Wendie Renard all shortlisted for the honour.

The award began in 2015 and previous winners include Asisat Oshoala, Vivianne Miedema, Lucy Bronze, Kim Little and Ada Hegerberg.

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Here we take a look at each nominee and their credentials.

Sam Kerr

The Chelsea forward is one of the standout stars in the Women’s Super League and her goalscoring record speaks for itself. Having scored 20 goals in 20 league matches, she played a key role in securing the Blues a historic third consecutive WSL title as she scooped up the Golden Boot award for the 2021-22 campaign.

Kerr was named the PFA's Players' Player of the Year, Chelsea's Player of the Season, the Football Writers’ Association Women's Footballer of the Year, as well as scoring the goal of the season on the final day of the season against Manchester United. The Australian also became the all-time leading scorer for her national team after surpassing Tim Cahill’s record of 50.

Beth Mead

One of England’s heroes of Euro 2022, Mead has had an outstanding year, which was capped off with lifting the Lionesses' first major trophy at Wembley Stadium in July. For her outstanding contributions in the tournament, she received the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards. Although she missed out on the WSL title with Arsenal, she had an impressive domestic campaign having contributed 11 goals and eight assists for the Gunners.

Alexandra Popp

Having missed most of the 2021-22 season with Wolfsburg due to injury, the German forward got herself fit and ready to represent her national team at Euro 2022. She was able to force her way into the starting lineup and scored six out of Germany’s 13 goals on their route to the final with England. She was tied for goals with Mead, but her inferior amount of assists saw her miss out on the Golden Boot. Popp was forced to miss out on the final at the last minute having picked up an injury in the pre-match warm-up.

Alexia Putellas 

The 2021 Ballon d’Or winner had a year full of highs and a few lows in 2021-22. The midfielder captained Barcelona to a domestic treble as they secured the Spanish league title for the third season on the bounce. Barca won all 30 of their matches and Putellas herself contributed 18 goals and 15 assists.

She played in two matches at Camp Nou that were packed out with 90,000 fans for the club’s Champions League quarter-final and semi-final ties before they were denied a second successive European crown by Lyon. The Spaniard was then ruled out of Euro 2022 just before the tournament kicked off due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered.

Wendie Renard

The veteran French star played a starring role as Lyon were crowned the champions of Europe last term while they also reclaimed their league title too. The defender has now won 15 French titles and eight Champions Leagues. 

The Lyon captain became the first player to reach the landmark of 100 Champions League appearances in April, adding to an impressive list of milestones including her being in the all-time top 15 players for goals scored, and now appearing in more finals (10) of Europe's elite club competition than any other player. She helped France reach the last four of Euro 2022 in the summer - their best ever performance at the tournament.